Folding drop-step fire-escape.



C. H. MORAND.

FOLDING DROP STEP FIRE ESCAPE. APPLIGATION FILED APR.15,1 912.

Patented Aug. 12, 1913.

nivrrii sunrise CHARLES H. MORAND, 0E LOS ANGELES, CALFORNA.

FOLDING DECF-STEP FIREESCA?E.

' siding at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Folding Drop-Step Fire-Escape, of which the following is e specification.

An object of this invention is to provide a fire escape applicable for the first story of buildings and to so construct the iire escape that it may be folded up against the building so as not to be available for burglar-s to enter the second'story, said fire escape being; readily lowered when required for descent of p persons from the second story to the ground.

Objects of the invention are to produce a metallicfire escape of this kind of minimum weight which will be perfectly safe for the use of women and children,.which will be attacbable to the lower platform of the usual tire escapes and can be brought from the folded position into position for use and vice versa, with great ease, convenience and celerity. i

Other objects of this invention may appear from the subjoined detail description. The invention may be embodied in @liderent forms.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention in a form I -at present deem. prei"- erable.

Figure l is a broken front elevation of a folding lire escape attachment embodying the invention mounted for operation upon the standard tire escape of. a building. Fie. 2 is a fragmental broken sectional.. elevation viewed from line azz, Fig. L, The lower broken parts are offset relative to the intermediate parts of the view to economies space. Dotted lines in Five.

attachment when not in use. Fig. 8 is an enlarged, ragmentai plan of two steps viewed from line es, `Figs. l and 2. Fig. l is a fi'agmental plan on reduced scale showing, in the dotted' osition from line mi, of Figs. l and 2, the ottom step in the position it assumes upon the top hand rsil or the fire escape landing when the attachment is folded up6I ifi 5 is an enlarged frag mental pien view om line ai, Figs. i and 2, illustrating the adjustable spacing means "for the side rails. A part of each side bar is shown in axial section for clearness of illustration. Fig. 6 is a fragmental sectional del Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led April 15, i912.

l and 2 indiA "cate the folded and locked position of the latoiitod ifo, iil

seien No. seroit.

tail of the oint between the hand rail standards and the side bars.`

rThe side rails l may be constructed of metal pipe'or other suitable material and are provided at their upper ends with hinge knuckles 2 to receive pins 3 for attachment to the support lknuckles 4: adjustable along and carried by a rail support which may bev the lower'. platform. 5 oi an ordinary iire escape landing fastened to the wail 6. Said side rails are oit sufiicient length to reach the ground while standing aslant are hinged at their upper ends to the support.

The steps 7 are metal plates arranged to run along the side rails i .preferably being provided with elongated eyes S through which said raiis are passe Flexible or collapsible step connections 9 support the steps, the upper step being connectm ed by connection 9' with the support through the side rails; and the connections 9 being fastened to andextending between the front edge of each step and the rear edge oit the step next below in succession from top to bottom oi' the ladder, so that as the side raiis are lowered into posit-ion aslant as shown in i y Fig. 2 the steps will run down along the side rails and come to rest properf spaced apart to form a stairway or step-ia der. Top and. bottom hand rail standards i() and il are hinged by knuckles l2, i3 and pins le to the side rails and the hand rails i5 are in like manner hinged et lo to the tops of the hand rail standards. Flexible stays 17 are connected to the main support to limit the downward movement of the hand rails relative to the side rails, so when the side rails are iowered to rest on the ground the standards of the hand rails normal to the side rails. The support and lower step Y are provided with intenengaging step-retaining means as the pins i8 and the catches i9, said catches preierab y being holes 20 through the .top rail or hand rails 2l oit' the second story landing at 5, to receive the pins.

A line 22 is connected with the side raiisend le t its lower end thence upward to windlassdevice 23 fastened to the sui y Sil' standard of the hand rail.

' 8 of the steps.

Nhen it is desired to store the drop tire escape, the windlass'will be turned to wind up the line, thus drawing the side rails into vertical position at the lateral upward movement of such rails. ill/'hen the side rails are nearly vertical, the attendant will lift the lower step to allow it to pass above the plane of the top rail 2l of the landing, so that the pins 1F; can be inserted into the holes 20, and said step is then lowered onto the top rail` .thereby normally closing the platform exit or cutaway portion 30 in thel top rail and locking the attachment in its folded position. The apparatus is then out of the way. e

When it is desired to use. the fire escape, the bottom step will be raised to disengage it from the top rail 21 and by means of the windlass the side railsmay be gradually lowered to the ground,'and as this occurs the stops by gravity assume the position for use.

The fire escape may be in ounted upon the platform 5 either to swing out from abui'lding or parallel to it, the latter form being shown in the drawings. I

The top rail or hand rail- 21 of the landing is cut away at the side rails to make a passage way fromv the landing to the steps when vtheside rails are lowered and when the side rails are in upright position the steps close the opening at the eut-away portion of the landing or balcony' railing. The stop pins 31 are preferably so located on the side rails with relation to the hinge knuckles thereof and the pile of steps that is formed when the steps run together in the folded position, that the steps form a closurelfor the passage-way when the apparatus is in its folded position. The bottom step which thus is brought to the top of the pile is outwardly widened from the side railsso' that when it is in the inverted position it overlrangs the top rail 21 of the landing so that the interengaging step-retaining means, as the pins 18 and holes 19, can be brought into engagement.

1t is understood that the side rails may be hinged directly to a building as in front of a window sill', in which instance the window sill would take the place of the landing platform, but such variations of arrangement are'not necessary tobe illustrated.

During installation of the fire escape the pins 18 may be brought into exact reg1stration with the holes 20 by adjusting the' knuckles 4 along the lower platform 5, and the exact spacing of the side rails 1 may be effected by. turning the adjusting rods 32 in the appropriate direction so that' the steps 7 7 will slide easily along the side rails without binding. rlhese adjustments are important for the reason that in structural work where the assembling of the parts is done partly in the shop and partly in the field, the rough characterof the work precludes nice adjustments of the parts in the shop.

I claim:

l. A collapsible lire escape comprising side rails adaptedvto be raised and lowered, steps mounted to run on the side rails, flexible step connections to space the steps along theside rails, a support to which the side rails are hinged, a hand rail mounted on the support and provided with a cutaway portion, and means to engage the lower one of'said steps to close the cutaway portion when the side rails are raised.

2. A collapsible fire escape comprising side rails adapted to be raised and lowered; steps mounted to run on the side rails; fieXi-. ble step connections to space the steps along the side rails; a support to which the side rails are hinged; an interrupted hand rail mounted on the support; and means to retain the steps intermediate of the ends of the side rails and between the support and the hand rail at the interruption when the 'side rails are raised.

3. A fire escape com rising` a support, a hand rail mounted on tilie support and provided with a cut-away portion forming an exit, .side rails hinged to thesupport to swing up and down, and steps .mounted to run on the side rails and spaced apart to form a vstairway when the side rails are swung down, said steps running toward veach other and into the space between the support and the cut away plane of the hand rail.

4. In a drop step fire escape, the combination with hinged side rails therefor, ofstcps provided with elongated eyes to accommo-- date the side rails in a slanting position.

5. In a drop step fire escape, the combination with hinged side rails therefor, of steps having elongated eyes` through which the side rails pass, and exible connections fasvste. s runninn on the side rails and l ins in C 7 VBLE @UPV nomme forth.

7. A lire escape comprising a platform,

side rails hinged to the platform, steps' run-' ning on the side rails, flexible connections @oplos of ms patentmay be entenee'l for ave cents each, ojyffaddressing Waan, D. G.

between the steps, and means to temporarily hold the side rails uipriglitwhen swung above the platform.

8. A. fire escape comprising a platform,

side rails hinged to' the platform, steps hav-v ing holes through whichthe side rails are passed, {iexible connections between the steps, exible means supporting the topmost ste poil? thefsteps when the' side .rails are swnn upabove the platform, and `means to hold the side rails in upright position and folded above the platform. p v

9. A re escape comprising a support, rails hinged to the support, steps running on the rails, flexible connections between the steps to space hein apart yalong the rails, means to'support the topmostA step, standards, pins extending at right angles to the side rails and hinging the standards to the side rails, hand rails on the standards and ifoldable toward and the side rails, connections to snppotfthe Hand rails when the side rails are lowered, and means to hold the side rails in folded position.

10. [A lire escape comprisin a support,

rails hinged to the support. an ladapted to "the topmost a stop above the topmost step to sup-' bei` lowered and raised, steps running: along the rails, flexible connections between the v3.5.

steps. to space them apart along the rails when-the rails are lowered, a support `for step, awindlass and a connection between the windlass and the side rails for the purpose of raising and lowering the 40 side railsg.

ll-.ln a fire escape the combination with side rails and steps on said rails, of means to space the side rails apart, standards' hinged to the side rails and foldable toward' 45 and from the same, hand rails hinged to the standards, and means to hold the standards from folding toward the side rails when the side* rails are in position oriise.

' 12. In a` lire escape; the combination with 5o a support; of a ladder hngedly connected at one end to the support; a drum on thel support; a connection between the drum and the ladder; means to torn' the drinn to wind the connection to raise the ladder; there be- 55 i a socket in the support; and a pin slidab e through the drum into the socket to .-loek the drum.,

ln testimony whereof, l have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 6o 8th day of April, 1912. l

l onions H. Moennn. ln presenceof-,v

JAMEsR. TOWNSEND, f Bamm Rien.

the flommissoner of Eatents, 

